Between now and 2020, 80 percent of companies anticipate enriching customer relations with chatbots.¹ Intelligent virtual agents are progressively becoming a vital means of interaction with users. Innovative, flexible and efficient, conversational robots are popping up everywhere. Here’s why.
Chatbots and customer relations: boosting satisfaction rates
Today’s users expect their interactions with brands to be effective, immediate and flexible. In the context of the digital transformation, associating chatbots with customer relations increases user satisfaction rates and conveys a good brand image. Available 24/7, the bot manages the initial phases of the customer relationship and performs a sort of triage among incoming user inquiries. In doing so, it reduces the number of helpdesk calls and increases user satisfaction.
See also: : How do millennials converse with your Customer Service Department?
However, a computerized bot isn’t enough in and of itself. Even though they appreciate the ease of communication provided by an intelligent conversational agent, clients don’t want to talk to a robot all through their shopping experience. About 47 percent of them prefer to alternate between machine and human, often to obtain more precise responses that the chatbot can’t necessarily provide. Therefore, a human presence is still essential, even if only to supervise the Customer Service chatbot.
Internal chatbots: facilitating employee relations
The use of an internal chatbot is the key to more fluid communications between the Human Resources Department and staff. Whether as part of training or other interactions with personnel, an HR chatbot simplifies assistance anytime, anywhere. A chatbot and Human Resources together form a highly effective team.
What about a training chatbot? As employees receive more and more requests to take e-learning courses that are often inconvenient, chatbots have taken on the role of on-demand trainers, accessible from the employee’s work station and availing of the “seeds of knowledge” to ensure the necessary micro-training at any given moment!
A human resources chatbot also responds to employees’ need for information, even when they’re scattered throughout the four corners of the world. The virtual agent implemented by the Caisse d’Épargne banking group (CloE) is a great example!
See also: : Elsa, the Chatbot Who’s Boosting Customer Satisfaction at ÉS Énergies Strasbourg
A chatbot to differentiate your company
Beyond the use of chatbots in human resources and customer relations, the implementation of this type of online artificial intelligence has practically become a necessity. Since April of 2016, some 100,000 bots have been launched on Facebook Messenger. Between now and 2020, 40 percent of all mobile interactions will be handled by chatbots.¹ Failure to take part in this movement means risking the loss of market share to the competition!
In every sector, the digital transformation is pushing companies to evolve for the better. Take the example of the chatbot at Natixis: when this international banking giant found itself overrun with pure players, it became necessary to integrate more efficient methods of adapting to the new demands of clients and employees. The company not only asked itself how to implement a chatbot, but also what would be the best ways of responding to the specific needs of its target audiences. The result was a smart avatar offering a high-quality user experience.
Of course, it’s still necessary to create a chatbot that’s practical and efficient through a perfectly adapted chatbot application that serves a precise goal. This is the price of making the bot an effective ambassador of your brand.
A marketing chatbot to personalize customer relations
A chatbot is a tool and a hyper-evolutionary channel: the more it converses, the more it advances! Analysis of its conversations allows you to better target your prospects and adapt the avatar or the personality of your conversational robot to the specific needs of your clients.
The chatbot experience of Myaudit.fr is a particularly telling example. Not only does the bot offer an automatic response to a question through its avatar, but it also questions the user to improve its future interactions. By asking internet users if they feel ready to purchase a car online, the bot can collect information and thus gauge users’ experience and comfort with digital shopping.
This data is integrated into CRM and used to advise users with increased precision, in addition to creating a customer experience based on a precise history. All of this is done in keeping with the rules established by the GDPR and the personas created upstream, which are indispensable for the proper functioning of a customer relations chatbot.
To understand the advantages of a chatbot, ask yourself the right questions: what kind of UX design will enable the chatbot to respond to the expectations of your users? What kind of HR chatbot will most effectively manage the inquiries and other requirements of your personnel? Whether you’re considering the implementation of an internal chatbot or a chatbot devoted to customer relations, the Living Actor team is here to guide and support you. Contact us to discuss your project!
(1) Alex le Gal, « Infographie – 10 chiffres à connaître sur le marché des chatbots », Maddyness, 14 juin 2017.